“Free Choice” Anything But

As lawmakers prepare for the 111th session of Congress and the nation waits to see President-elect Barack Obama take office, the economic crisis and efforts to reverse it are the top public policy issue on the minds of most retailers. But there is another issue pending in Washington that could have nearly as large an impact on our industry: the misleadingly named Employee Free Choice Act.

The Employee Free Choice Act is more commonly known as card-check, and it would throw out decades of well-established federal labor law that guarantees workers the right to a secret ballot vote in union organizing elections. Instead, it would require the National Labor Relations Board to recognize a union if organizers can convince 51 percent of workers to sign a union authorization card.

To me, that sounds like anything but “free choice.” Taking away the privacy of the voting booth could subject workers to coercion and intimidation on a scale never seen before. Why should retailers care? Card-check is organized labor’s top legislative priority as it fights to stem years of declining union membership, and retail — the largest non-union industry — is its top target.

Card-check would go far beyond making union votes easier. It would also allow unions to form micro bargaining units within a company, with each store in a retail chain — or even a store department — eligible to become a separate unit. And if the retailers and union couldn’t come to terms on their first contract within 120 days, government arbitrators would step in to set wages and employment conditions.

Card-check flew through the House two years ago, passing less than a month after it was introduced in February 2007 as payback for labor’s support of Democrats during the 2006 elections. NRF and other business groups were able to stop it by a scant nine votes in the Senate that summer. But Democrats hold an even larger majority in both chambers after the 2008 elections and Obama – who voted for the measure as a senator – says he will sign it into law if it reaches his desk as president.

NRF is continuing to lead the retail industry in this fight, and a number of resources are available at www.nrf.com/privateballot.

This isn’t about whether unions are good for business or not. This is about workers simply being allowed to make the decision of whether to join a union of their own free will, without pressure from labor or management. Unions already win the majority of organization elections, so why do they need the job made easier?

Secret ballots are a cornerstone of American democracy; voters benefit from a secret ballot when they go to the polls each Election Day. Congress has a secret ballot when lawmakers choose their leaders, and workers deserve nothing less than a secret ballot when choosing whether to join a union. We must not allow this fundamental right to be lost.